Nature at its best and worst

Total Lunar Eclipse May 16, 2022, 12:12 AM

Last weekend, we drove to Ottawa ON just in time for the lunar eclipse. Sunday afternoon brought thunderstorms and heavy rain but the skies cleared by the time the eclipse started. Our daughter Becka took these hand-held pictures with my camera just as the eclipse was nearly complete. It is challenging to take a sharp photo of a darkened moon without a tripod but she had a very steady hand. The middle photo shows the city environment with the red moon in the sky. Becka woke me up just before midnight so I could go outside to see the event at its peak. 

Déjà vu

Jumping ahead six days to May 21...

A derecho, a long line of strong winds with heavy rain and thunderstorms raced across Ontario yesterday. The wind and rain hit our neighbourhood at noon and the same storm line hit Ottawa severely only 4 hours later. It takes about 5 hours to drive that distance on the highway, so that gives some idea of how quickly the storm moved. At least 5 people in our province were killed by falling trees including one death at a campground in our area. The picture above is on our city block. We had a similar storm last June that felled many trees in the city and yesterday, a boulevard tree fell on a house next door to a home that experienced the same misfortune the previous year. Our local airport recorded wind gusts as high as 130 km/hour as the storm raced by.

Did the eaglets survive??

I was concerned about the Bald Eagle nest in a nearby town and we drove out to check on it this afternoon. The pine tree that supports the eyrie is high on a riverbank and is vulnerable to winds from the west. The storm damage in this township was more severe than in our city and many trees were damaged or destroyed. The Bald Eagle nest appeared intact but the birds were not around. I know there were two eaglets in the nest last week but it appeared abandoned today. We saw a pair of adult Bald Eagles a few kilometres away in a tree and I snapped a picture as they flew off. It is unusual to see two eagles together during nesting time as they invariably take turns watching their young. 

Sadly, it is inevitable that many bird and squirrel nests were destroyed in yesterday's storms. I will check the eyrie again before declaring that the eaglets did not survive. Our daughter's home in Ottawa had some minor damage, but her friend's home was severely damaged by a fallen tree. Other families lost loved ones. Nature can be very harsh...

Bobolink, Red Fox, Savannah Sparrow

...but life goes on and most creatures demonstrate great resilience. Bobolinks sang their metallic songs, a fox ran through the rapidly growing grass and Savannah Sparrows perched on fence posts at the edge of a meadow. We saw a nice variety of birds following their normal springtime routines. We saw lots of people outdoors as they worked together cleaning up neighbourhoods and helping those in need. Sometimes nature at its worst brings out the best of "human nature".